A semicolon is used when an author could have chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. Today, people all over the world are tattooing the mark as a reminder of their struggle, victory, and survival. You are the author. The sentence is your life.

Did you know that a suicide takes place every 13 minutes in America? It’s a public health problem that is one of the leading causes of death among young people. Yet, many of these suicides could have been prevented if they’d had help.

In a local setting, David Kennedy, pastor of Newday Christian Fellowship, was made aware of this problem after a conversation with Parker’s mayor, Mike Waid, who saw suicide as an area of great community need.

This prompted Kennedy, along with his assistant, Lisa Engelkemier, to attend a training session through the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office several months ago and then to offer the training to the community.

On Tuesday evening, September 13, more than 45 people attended the safeTALK training at Newday church. The group was made up of teachers from the local school district, public school students, a probation officer from Douglas County, Campion deans and assistant deans, and others. Participants were made aware of a need to have a higher awareness of suicide and received skills training for talking to a possibly suicidal person and connecting them to an agency able to keep them safe and continue to help.

For those interested in creating a suicide-safer community and who would like to receive training, contact Phyllis A. Harvey, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office/Y.E.S.S. at pharvey@dcsheriff.net. Or, if you would like to talk to someone about your own thoughts of suicide, call the Colorado Crisis and Support Line at 1-844-493-8255. [Carol Bolden]